According to the generally known state of the art, adjacent fuselage sections to be interconnected are first correctly positioned relative to each other, and then the pilot holes for installation of the connecting elements are made. By means of special screw-type clipping rivets as connecting elements in a subsequent manufacturing step the connecting plates affixed to the fuselage sections are firmly tightened so that ingress of drilling chips between the components is prevented. However, since during pre-drilling for the purpose of inserting the screw-type clipping rivets no pre-stress force can be applied, after the pilot holes have been made the fuselage sections need to be separated and cleaned. Only after this is it possible to finally position the fuselage sections relative to each other, and to finally affix them by means of the special screw-type clipping rivets. In this process the components are drawn together by the screw-type clipping rivets to such an extent that ingress of drilling chips when drilling the remaining pilot holes is prevented. Renewed separation of the fuselage sections prior to final riveting, combined with the cleaning effort required for this step, overall results in quite considerable work effort and in long throughput times in the manufacture of fuselages.
From US 2003/0221306 A1 a device for the temporary position fixing of adjacent aircraft structures that are to be interconnected is known, which device comprises an integrated drilling device. Prior to drilling the pilot holes through a layer construction comprising an outer reinforcement strip, the outer skin of the aircraft itself, an inner reinforcement strip, and the inside frame element, clamping for the purpose of position fixing is carried out. To this effect the device has an outside device part that comprises an electrical coil and corresponds to an inside device part that comprises soft iron in order to ensure electromagnetic clamping. However, in this process the inside device part needs to be brought to correct alignment relative to the outside device part, which is not visible during installation, in order to ensure the clamping action of the electromagnetic field. Before a single pilot hole or a locally delimited region of pilot holes can be drilled after electromagnetic position fixing, the correct position of the device must be ensured. In order to drill further pilot holes, the entire device including the drilling device needs to be displaced and temporarily fixed anew. Operation of this combined device needs both electrical energy for the electromagnets and compressed air for the drilling device.
From DE 10 2008 043 491 A1 another device for the temporary position fixing of adjacent aircraft structures that are to be interconnected is known, which device also uses the electromagnetic clamping principle and in this respect comprises an outer device part and an inner device part; however, a drilling device does not form an integral part of this clamping device. With the use of the aforesaid quite a large work region can be fully positioned and fixed in position by means of one or several clamping devices, and subsequently the pilot holes can be drilled, which in this case are usually drilled with the use of a manual drilling tool. Nonetheless, as part of position fixing, care must be taken for correct opposing positioning of the outer device part and the inner device part, and for operation of the electromagnetically operating device the latter must be supplied with electrical current.